There's no guidebook for raising a teen but, fortunately, you don't have to be perfect to provide the stability and security that teens in foster care need and deserve. (NAPS)

(NAPSI)—Here’s good news for parents and people who’d
like to be parents: You don’t have to be perfect.

That’s the word from the experts at AdoptUSKids,
which maintains a photolisting website to promote
adoption from foster care and raises awareness of the 112,000 children and
teens waiting to be adopted.

With the help of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’
Children’s Bureau, the Ad Council (a private, nonprofit organization
with a rich history of marshaling volunteer talent from the advertising and
media industries to deliver critical messages to the American public) and the
KBS global advertising agency, the partner organizations created new public
service announcements (PSAs) to encourage families
to adopt teenagers.

Facts And Figures To Consider

Of the 428,000 youths under the age of 18 in the U.S. foster care system, 112,000
are currently waiting for adoptive families. Forty-three percent of all
children actively photolisted on AdoptUSKids.org are ages 15 to 18, yet
only 5 percent of all children adopted in 2015 were between the ages of 15
and 18 years old. Unfortunately, teens in foster care have lower adoption
rates than younger children, and they often wait longer to be adopted.

Adoption Facts

Although many people believe adoption is always expensive, in fact, most
adoptions from U.S.
foster care are free. The minimal costs that can be associated with them are
often reimbursable. In addition, the vast majority of youths adopted from
foster care are also eligible for monthly adoption assistance.

What’s more, in most instances, you’re eligible to adopt
regardless of age, income, marital status or sexual orientation. You don’t
need to own your own home, be wealthy, be a stay-at-home parent or have a
college degree to adopt. You just need to demonstrate that you can support
yourself without any additional income, such as adoption assistance.

“All of us—and that includes teens in foster care who are
waiting to be adopted—need and want families to support us and to give
us the connections, relationships and sense of belonging that are so critical
to our well-being,” said Jerry Milner, Associate Commissioner at the
Children’s Bureau, and the Acting Commissioner for the Administration
on Children, Youth and Families. “The parents and families that adopt
older teens from foster care enrich their own lives while providing an
incredible impact on the lives of the adopted children and teens at a time
when it is needed most.”

What’s Being Done

To help, KBS collaborated with the authors and illustrator of the iconic “What
to Expect When You’re Expecting” pregnancy books. The resulting
humorous videos feature well-intentioned moms and dads attempting to give new
parents of teens step-by-step parenting tutorials on such things as how to
wake up your teen, how to teen-proof your home, and what to do about
confusing text messages, binge-watching and promposals.

Learn More

To see the PSAs and to learn how you can adopt a
teen or help those who do, visit www.AdoptUSKids.org,
for both English and Spanish information; call (888) 200-4005 for
English-speaking staff or (877) 236-7831 for Spanish-speaking staff; or visit
the AdoptUSKids social communities on Facebook and Twitter.